Frick exhibits mark American photography
PITTSBURGH — "Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art" will open Oct. 3 at the Frick Art & Historical Center, 7227 Reynolds St. in Point Breeze.
This exhibition, which will be housed in The Frick Art Museum, is composed of 59 photographs that chronicle the evolution of photography in America, from a scientific curiosity in the 1850s to one of the most potent forms of artistic expression of the 20th century.
"Icons of American Photography" presents some of the best work by masters of the medium, such as Mathew Brady, William Henry Jackson, Eadweard Muybridge, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Margaret Bourke-White and Dorothea Lange, encompassing themes of portraiture, the Western landscape and abstraction.
The exhibition explores the technical developments of photography as well, starting with outstanding examples of daguerreotypes — a sheet of copper coated with light sensitive silver. The daguerreotype gave way to salt, albumen, and then gelatin silver prints.
Technologies improved to accommodate larger sizes, easy reproduction of multiple prints from a single negative, and commercially available negative film and print papers. As analog photography is replaced by digital media in the 21st century, this exhibition celebrates an art form that is intimately tied to American life and history.
As a complement to "Icons of Photography," also opening Oct. 3 will be another photography exhibit, "Children's Hospital 1951: Photographs by Esther Bubley."
This exhibit features a selection of 20 photographs by Bubley (1921¿1998), on loan from the Children's Hospital Foundation.
In 1951, Bubley, a master of artistic composition and storytelling, was hired by the Pittsburgh Photographic Library to live at the hospital and take photographs of the doctors at work over a period of several weeks. Thirteen prints from this series were chosen by Edward Steichen to be included in his groundbreaking 1952 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, "Diogenes with a Camera."
The Frick is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays; closed Mondays and major holidays.
Admission to The Frick Art Museum, Car and Carriage Museum, Greenhouse and Playhouse is free.
Free parking is available in the Frick's off-street lot or along adjacent streets.
Docent-led tours of "Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art" and "Children's Hospital 1951: Photographs of Esther Bubley" are available free at 2 p.m. Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Call 412-371-0600 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily.
